Geraint Thomas and Wout Poels will share the leadership of Team Sky in Tirreno-Adriatico. This will be the second race of the season for the Welshman and the third for the Dutch rider.

Thomas will continue his road to defend his Tour de France title at the Italian race. "I was better at this time last year but I’ve improved my condition and we’re here with a strong team for the Team Time Trial," the Briton commented.

"Stage 1 is definitely more open this year. Five or six teams can win it. It’s nice to have Filippo Ganna as a late inclusion in our line-up after he won the individual pursuit at the Track World Championships."

This race is special for Poels because there he took his first victory in Team Sky's colours in 2015, also he won the Young classification in 2012. "I really like Tirreno," the rider said. "I’ve done it quite a lot of times. At Vaconsoleil I won the white jersey as best young rider, I’ve been in the top 10 three times and I won a stage in 2015 - my first win for the team. It’s got some good memories for me.

"I’ve felt good since Algarve. I’ve been training back home with Chris (Froome), Kwiato (Michal Kwiatkowski), Kenny (Elissonde), G (Geraint Thomas), Luke (Rowe), so we’ve had a good block. I’ll be trying for a nice result here. G and I are leading so we’ll see how it plays out."

The 2019 edition of Tirreno-Adriatico is said to be for a time triallist or a Classics rider and Poels is not a strange to the latter as he took the victory of the 2016 Liege-Bastogne-Liege. "They say it’s more for the Classics guys but... I won a Classic!," joked Poels. "It looks like it will be quite punchy but I don’t mind that.

"For the team time trial on day one we have a really good team as well, so we will see. I feel good."